Forecast for Thursday 1 September 2016

Thursday 1 September 2016; and the DHE; and Mercury Retrograde

\Through the Looking-Glass/

Moon in Virgo

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues (until Friday forenoon)   ** |
New Moon (and eclipse) at 2:04a PT | 5:04a ET | 9:04a UT

Mercury turned retrograde on Tuesday August 30 at 6:05a PT | 9:05a ET | 1:05p UT (until September 22); but the Dark Hermetic Epoch of which the retrograde period is the center continues until October 6

I failed to indicate the fact of Mercury's retrogradation in Tuesday's and Wednesday's report, although I had been mentioning the fact that we are in the Dark Hermetic Epoch until October 6. The retrograde period is ALWAYS in the center of the DHE. I emphasize this because from some of the questions I receive, it seems that some do not understand this. The DHE begins when Mercury slows down; then when Mercury appears to be going backward (retrograde) we have the three-week retrograde cycle--this time from August 30 through September 21--and then we have two more weeks of the DHE while Mercury is slowly gaining speed, until October 6. 

|{Dark Hermetic Epoch begins 8/10  -  (Mercury Retrograde 8/30-9/22) -  DHE ends 10/6}|

The whole of the DHE covers 56 days; the center of it, Mercury Retrograde, covers 22 days.

I insist that what astrologers have always considered typical "Mercury Retrograde" syndromes and behaviors are actually prevalent through the whole 56-day DHE. It is just that they are even more pronounced during the Mercury Retrograde period of 22 days, which began Tuesday this week. And did you notice?--on Tuesday evening Donald Trump, in Everett, Washington (a few miles from where I live) announced that on Wednesday he would be going to Mexico to discuss immigration with the Mexican President. Trump is a Gemini, and it has been noted by astrologers that Gemini and Virgo individuals (or those with those signs rising, or the moon in one of them, or a significant number of planets in them, which means probably 80 per cent of the population) seem to respond even more to the Retrograde cycle than others. Trump felt he had to confront his rhetoric about Mexican immigration by doing something tangible. Mercury Retrograde often "calls us up short"-- asks us "Are you walking your talk?" 

Since Mercury Retrograde has just begun, and lasts another three weeks (until Thursday September 22), let's consider it seriously. Here is part of what I have learned by observing what happens to me and others during these periods:

1. Old people are back in your life. On Tuesday, the day Mercury turned retrograde, I went to an event attended by people I haven't connected with in a few months and considered whether or not I belong with them, or to what degree. It is evident that I have some link with them, and yet it is not a perfect one--far from it--and I need to confront the problems involved, somehow. "Old karma." Also, I felt impelled to write to a friend I haven't seen in two years, or written to in months. You will find such things happening. It can indeed be "old karma," or things which need to be completed. 

2. Some people move, or make other major changes in their lives. A friend wrote me today saying that while he has spent a few years in another country, and a few months in a mountain town in Colorado, he wants to move back to the town where I originally met him. "Re"-turn----you will find that the "Re" words all make sense while Mercury is retrograde. Review, recompense, repentance, removal, recollection, regeneration. This man, who so far as I know does not put any stock in astrology, sent out a letter to all his friends on the second day of the Mercury Retrograde cycle requesting that any who knew of rental possibilities in his old town get in touch with him. This is very typical Mercury Retrograde behavior. It is not wrong--and not necessarily right--but typical. (In general I recommend that one not make such major moves or decisions during the Mercury Retrograde period, but if one has made such a decision well before it, one can complete the move during it.) This may be "old karma" calling him back to his old home town.

3. Review of information, knowledge, studies, and life-orientations you have already explored but need to explore again more deeply. I am finding that I want to re-study Hegel the philosopher, who is a major teacher in my life, and that this is very helpful to me. Am I really going back to the early 1800s when this amazing teacher lived and wrote? No, but what he did then is as alive as when he did it and I am reaping the benefit of that. We can "reap the past" during these times. We can revisit the past, or past accomplishments, and glean from them something everlastingly valuable. 

4. If there are any new people in your life, consider this: Does it feel that they are old friends, perhaps from a past life? Maybe they are. 

5. Have you felt you owe a letter or phone call to someone? Maybe this is the time you will feel impelled finally to do that. Old connections are still alive and may need to be enlivened further through such contact. 5a: If that person is gone from this world, you may connect with her or him in consciousness on the inner planes. 

6. Some people leave their positions, resign. Others consider that, and decide to stay on, but with a differing or better orientation. Other are forced out: such as Dilma Rousseff, the President of Brazil, ousted on the same day Donald Trump felt compelled to visit Mexico. It is a time when, often, "the s... hits the fan." 

7. "The crunch" is here. A football player on the San Francisco '49ers team has decided to sit down during the playing-singing of the National Anthem before each game. This takes courage, whether one agrees with it or not. He is feeling "the crunch": Now or never. 

8. Allied with that, we are much more thoughtful about a lot. About people, experiences, opinions, principles, hopes, and intentions. We are reviewing what our life means. What do we believe in; on what do we take our stand? Mercury is moving more slowly than the sun (from our geocentric perspective) and so the sun, our own Sol or soul, takes precedence over flighty superficial feelings and opinions (the profane side of Mercury). We want to align ourselves with Sol, soul, and it is not easy because our minds go in a thousand other directions. But we are pulled back into that seeking.

9. Seeking. For what are we seeking? We can put words to it, and that is good and helpful, yet we realize that it is also beyond all those words which point to it. But we are the "manomaya purusha," the mental being, so we can use the words, even as mantras, to take us beyond ourselves. What is your mantra, or mantras? 

10. All this is pretty heavy. It is a heavy time. It is an opportunity to get beyond the blandness and boorishness of our usual selves. 

11. On a more superficial plane, it is conundrums. On the day Mercury went retrograde, the European Union ordered Apple to pay 15 billion dollars in taxes to Ireland; yet Ireland says it doesn't want it. Huh? If the EU ordered Apple to pay me $15 billion, I think that, despite the burden it would be to me, I might consider saying, "Ok, despite the burden, you can lay that on me." What does all this mean? I haven't consulted a lawyer, but during Mercury Retrograde times it appears that gain is loss and loss is gain? Or am I missing something? 

12. The past gets deeper. As of today, the second day of Mercury's retrogradation (backwardness), the New York Times reports: "Geologists have discovered in Greenland evidence for ancient life in rocks that are 3.7 billion years old. The find, if confirmed, would make these fossils the oldest on Earth and may change scientific understanding of the origins of life." The past gets pushed further and further into the Past! While Mercury dithers. Quite wonderful. How far back into your own past can you go? Into another lifetime? The Scientologists claim they can do that for you, as well as some hypnotists using regression methods. 

13. All of this makes an Alice in Wonderland world, "Through the Looking-Glass." It can, at times, be drift, indifference, apathy. When you get in such a mood, maybe re-reading what I just wrote here could lift you out of it into other more interesting possibilities. I hope so.

And please retain these words for the next three weeks, because I cannot repeat them every day.

{Thursday, and DHE, and Mercury Retrograde}  /Through the Looking-Glass\

Cosmic Piper

And, 14. Weird technological glitches happen more often, such as above, where I cannot change the size of the type here for some mysterious reason known only to Blogger and Google or some obscure sad programmer somewhere in Silicon Valley. Happy DHE, programmer! 

Forecast for Wednesday 31 August 2016

Wednesday 31 August 2016

\Creative Spontaneous Order/

Moon in Leo-->Virgo

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues all day (until Friday mid-morning)   ** |

/moon goes void-of-course at [9:21p(Tu) PT] | 0:21a ET | 4:21a UT   * / |

until it enters Virgo at 8:23a PT | 11:23a ET | 3:23p UT   ** |

We need to avoid getting lost in inessentials. That can be a problem throughout the Dark Hermetic Epoch (until October 6) but especially today because it is the final day of an Old Moon when energies and initiatives tend to be slack. It is easy to feel "What's the use of anything? Are my daily routines really taking me anywhere?" Yet the details of those routines are not "devils" but angels when you keep up with them wisely.

Study would be good. Learning, philosophy and internationalism are strengthening, especially when they are difficult at first. 

You are building or setting up something, a shanty in the wild as it were, through your patient endeavors, and this is adventurous.

There could be innovation in your social life. Venus in Libra is a good social position. Combine it with blazing a path of experiment, and amazing things could happen despite the |difficult third| syndrome. They may be wrapped in confusion or uncertainty, but that is natural now.

I saw seven short experimental films on Tuesday. The one which was most enjoyable and got the most applause was the one most free-form, spontaneous, and humorous. That could be a clue to a winning mode of approach during this DHE. 

There are poetry, song, and prophetic soul-glimmers. Your mind may be often in the right-brain (intuitive) mode. 

Yet there is an even path before you, if you can recognize and adhere to it. 

Fine arts and romance could be prominent, with tranquil yet joyous harmony. I hope this symbol from Signor Borelli will be evident: "A broad tract of open fields under the moon's rays; a river winds its way through them." Moon River! though that orb be crescently invisible.

Mental or intellectual affairs may be disorderly yet stimulating, even thrilling. You can dig out that book you need from a pile. Anyone doing writing has a good day for it. The result may be novel to the point of seeming unpopularity, yet meet with distinction.

It doesn't matter if everything seems too early or tentative. It is satisfying to see a beginning taking form, no matter how chaotic or spontaneous. (Back to paragraph 1.)

{Wednesday} \Creative Spontaneous Order/

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Tuesday 30 August 2016

Tuesday 30 August 2016

^Resources Expanded Through Persistence^

Moon in Leo   ***

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week begins at 9:11p PT | 12:11a ET | 4:11a UT (until Friday morning)   ** |

/moon goes void-of-course at 9:21p PT | 12:21a(W) ET | 4:21a(W) UT   * / |

It's a tricky time. We look to what can provide certification for our approach to everyday living. Something from the deep past sustains each of us. 

As for the future, we explore that, experimenting toward it, using our originality as a wedge to open the door for others who find our efforts liberating. 

Those who search beyond the ordinary may appear melancholic or maniacal. They have an unusual destiny. Yet their intellect can penetrate into the laws of the recondite.

Discrimination insists on the truth, and the truth only, no matter what others may think or surmise. As you so insist, doors open which would otherwise be closed.

You serve as you bring hidden realities, sweet odors of truth, into the awareness of those around you, so that as they breathe them they enter higher worlds of consciousness.

An effective influence persuades people through harmony. This you are able to do, as a custodian of things they would not possess except through your kindness.

You are dominant, and even seem to control others, insofar as you let the driving power of your personality open up for them vistas they would not have known otherwise. It's a mysterious time.  

Imagination in you certifies what you can do, because it is ahead of your ability to accomplish it, and so leads you into it reliably. Nothing is impossible when we keep trying (and trust the All-Wise to whom all things are possible). 

{Tuesday} ^Resources Expanded through Persistence^

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Monday 19 August 2016

Monday 29 August 2016

^The Rectification of Truth^

Moon in Cancer-->Leo   ***

/moon goes void-of-course at [11:24p(Su) PT] | 2:24a ET | 6:24a UT   ** /

until it enters Leo at 1:13a PT | 4:13a ET | 8:13a UT   ***

The major lunar aspect is her double trine with Saturn and Mars in Sagittarius. This is good for study, learning, international connections, and philosophy or religion. It emphasizes something solid and lasting you want to sink your teeth into, or hold on to for dear life. You can make strides in that direction. 

Luna's position in Leo suggests youth, always, so there is a blending, uniting or at least pragmatic alliance of the generations. The young see that there is some sense in the relative conservatism of the older, and the older feel that their hard-won experience is being transmitted to a fresh generation.

Since I don't claim to predict the stock market, it is probably better to say nothing, but major planets in the house related to money dealings suggests that many will feel this a decisive day in regard to trading or investing. 

If trying to accomplish what is most important to you (T square focused on Saturn and Mars still very strong), you will experience calm, tranquility and harmony.

In areas where you have dependable resources, whether material, intellectual, skillful or artistic, you will feel dominant or poised to become dominant.

Things from the past you can do nothing to change, except by your attitude to them, are coming forward, perhaps in connection with your father. Whatever was a mistake could be rectified in consciousness, so that it will not be troublesome in future lifetimes or later in this one.

You could be fearful of trying to experience life in the way some other interesting people experience it (symbol: First dancing instruction) and so pull back from what could challenge you to expand yourself. There are always clumsy steps in learning, but nobody cares really.

At worst you could feel melancholy, as if a black cloth were covering your head. Are you eccentric, or pondering within chaos? Being reclusive to seek truth is not a mistake. In fact, doing so could be a great pleasure, and when you discern something wonderfully true and contrast it with what is false, you feel exhilarated.

The strongest warning seems to be in regard to someone terribly impatient who could overreact destructively. The symbol is a bomb exploding in the air. You can protect yourself from this by heeding the previous paragraphs, and then there can be calm, tranquility, harmony (paragraph 4). 

{Monday} ^The Rectification of Truth^

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 August 2016

Saturday 27 August 2016

~Spiritual Protection~

Moon in Cancer   **

The autumnal-ness of these days is wonderful, late August through October. One of my favorite seasons. I feel like a migrant bird ready to fly to another realm. Yet it would be hard to leave the fruitful fullness of the fields and gardens, and the slow coloring of the leaves. Then there is the return of students to school or college, and football fight songs emanating from stadiums, and apple cider. Magical. 

The horoscopic charts for recent days, and today (Saturday), remind me how necessary it is for each of us to find our own spiritual resources rather then depend on circumstances or the planets to make our way for us. There seems not very much help from the planets recently. Yet I have been keeping my equanimity, for the most part, except for one or two infuriating incidents and infuriating individuals. I try to "put all that in spiritual healing" and focus instead on what I hope my life is really about.

Saturday is a mixed bag. I will point out the hardest part first, during a particular time period: Noon to 7 p.m. Pacific Time; 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Time; and 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.(Su) Universal Time. Those in other zones can adjust that. These seven hours present some challenges while Luna is quincunx both Mars and Saturn. Whatever infuriates you could come into your consciousness. Individuals who are hard or harsh about certain matters could seem ready to explode, or their covert or overt opinions or prejudices seem to influence them against you. I want to say, "Don't let this ruin your day." Local travel could be difficult, time-consuming or irritating. There are questions about nativism versus internationalism, perhaps. The political noise about such things has been peculiarly unenlightening and stilted. You may wonder why a friend has chosen to be in a particular place where you cannot be. 

Let's go to the symbols for something more uplifting:  Charubel gives one of my favorites:  "A naked infant, exposed, sleeping alone in an open and dreary place. Around and above that helpless form are beasts and birds of prey. But, by some strange power, unseen, this embodied picture of innocence is protected. Denotes a simple unassuming person; one who has been but little noticed; no special favourite of anyone. His parents were cruel, and cruelty has dogged him. Yet, withal, he has some strange power about him, and whilst exposed to the plottings of enemies, he is saved from the power of their malice, and in every contest he comes off, eventually, the victor. 'No weapon formed against him shall prosper.'" That is a wonderful antidote to the previous paragraph.

There is the fruitfulness of late summer and early autumn, already mentioned. This is deeply satisfying. 

One needs to be sure one is on the "right side" in any contest of ideas or opinions, and then one feels confident. This may require some adjustment.

Relatively expensive pleasures may come to you, or you to them. While they last there is 

cheerfulness. 

And, beyond that, there is a prophetic soul within you which sings hope out to you and the world. It is perched atop a tree, and several symbols mention trees--some of our best friends in the vegetal world. Making friends with them could be soul-satisfying.

{Saturday} ~Spiritual Protection~

Cosmic Piper

Sunday 28 August 2016

~Adherence to Purpose Brings Fulfillment~

Moon in Cancer   ***

This looks better than Saturday, hence the three stars, because Luna spends the day sailing toward a trine with Jupiter, Venus and Mercury (albeit also a square with Uranus which makes things spicier). 

The other major configurations provide a dour and negative view, including a T square (very long-lasting) with its focus on Saturn and Mars the two "malefic" planets. I have said previously that this will diminish especially by September 10. I gave a period from September 10 through October 6 as a possibly good vacation period or time for special pleasures and fulfillments. That's just two weeks away. Meanwhile that T square is increasing, with the sun's pressure on one side. It really means "Knuckle down to your major concerns, your work, a project, a study or something which engages you at a deep level. What do you feel is your mission or purpose? Now is the time to adhere to it." 

I have to say that, even though it's a weekend and we want to have some fun. The first paragraph gives some assurance, yet there are uncertainties, and that may make you feel somewhat lost. Yet there is protection if you tune in to it. There are hints of success, and generosity. 

A hard part could be looking at something in your past which requires you to sense the agony you have been through over something or someone. Are you afraid to let that be public? Yet it cannot entirely be hid. Then there is a clearance and a rectification. 

"A woodland scene and a tower upon a hill" (Seignior Borelli) suggests something lovely brought to us by Luna in her own sign Cancer trine to Virgo (earth) planets. Our planet (with her satellite) is a marvel.

{Sunday} ~Adherence to Purpose Brings Fulfillment~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Friday 26 August 2016

Friday 26 August 2016

}Studying How to Live{

Moon in Gemini-->Cancer   * |

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week ends at 1:01p PT | 4:01p ET | 8:01p UT   ** 

/moon goes void-of-course at 5:31p PT | 8:31p ET | 12:31a(Sa) UT   * /

until it enters Cancer at 8:07p PT | 11:07p ET | 3:07a(Sa) UT   ***

The one-star and two-star ratings do not mean that this is a time to suffer; rather, it is likely harder to "get one's act together." Still, the effort to do so is rewarding and develops deeper character, plus strength for the future. 

Sometimes at these times people who look like they are having fun are rather trying to have fun and pretending a little. (Sorry if I sound like the grinch, but this comes from self-observation over many years.) Spiritual bliss is always possible if one can reach that high in consciousness. It would have to overshine the sufferings and moods of others around one.

Study and mental work go well. This can be specially true while Mercury remains in Virgo throughout the Dark Hermetic Epoch (until October 6, Mercury leaving that sign two days later). But also specially true today while Luna remains in Gemini squared to Virgo planets. These are the two signs ruled by Mercury the mentally investigative wanderer. 

Relationships and social times will be better after Venus leaves Virgo, where she is muted, and enters Libra, late next Monday or early Tuesday (depending on zone), August 29-30. They may also be better Saturday and especially Sunday this week (tomorrow and the day after) when Luna in Cancer forms good aspects. So those two days may be better weekend party days than today and tonight, probably with three stars.

{Friday}  {Studying How to Live}

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Thursday 25 August 2016

Thursday 25 August 2016

}Buttressed Thinking{

Moon in Gemini

|Karmically challenging or sobering third| of this week continues (until Friday afternoon)   * |

We can make the best of this. It's time to focus on what is important. That does not deny some pleasures, but probably the pleasures will be interwoven with efforts you are making to improve things along some line or other.

How we invest our time and resources is matter for rethinking. There are not dire warnings other than normal caution, although today could be the hardest of the week for many. 

A spiritual mission of some kind is likely to feel important. Like most such missions, it has a healing or harmonizing purpose, in addition to sheer enlightenment. 

Interesting people may be a little ill-at-ease with you, and you with them, but that is just a "getting to know you" phase--or, even if nothing "clicks" in a big way, you may find that knowing them and their habits, attitudes and feelings expands your own personality even if that is difficult. You don't have to "like" them in a big way to gain something from them. Expanding one's sensibilities can hurt, and one shies away from it at first, but afterward one may find it was mind- and personality-enhancing. 

The DHE brings review, recollection, remembrance, and reorganization. Some of this can be very good, even if it seems a hassle for a little while. For example, I have been communicating with several individuals who have been asking questions, and I have asked questions of them, and it has required patience on both sides but some needed process is taking place. More of that sort of thing happens during DHEs, which are "review and revise" phases to a large degree.

Even, in the past few days, I have been reviewing philosophers I studied years ago, for example Francis Herbert Bradley (1846-1924). He was a very popular and decorated British philosopher of the time of the British Empire's peak, and brought an awareness of German idealist philosophy into the British Isles (with a few other advanced souls). I found that the latest article about him in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy--free to read online--is excellent, and I looked up its author and dropped him a fan letter. Philosophers don't get many of those. He promptly replied with a thank you. And now, today, I re-read the article even more attentively, outside a coffee shop in a nice comfortable breeze, and I want to write him again. DHE confusions abound: the Stanford Encyclopedia gives two authors for the article, and I only wrote to one, so now I will have to direct my next letter to both of them, which is somewhat embarrassing. 

In the DHE there are always "loose ends." You will see them everywhere. All we can do is the best possible at the moment, leaving some "ends" "loose" until it becomes possible to knit them together later. That is happening with other correspondence: I am postponing letters to two individuals until I have more time, which may be in a day or two. Things often s l o w  d o w n  during any Dark Hermetic Epoch. (This one, to remind you, goes until October 6.)

So we have to keep alert to the question: What do I have to do quickly, efficiently, without delay; and what can I do slowly, easily, meditatively, musingly, taking my own sweet time? You will find there are a lot of the latter during the DHE. But the former--the things requiring speed and super-efficiency--are also there, though perhaps less interesting. So we have to learn to get those done speedily in order to have time for the more interesting leisurely matters we want to dawdle over. There is a lot to think about, analyze, and figure out today.

{Thursday} {Buttressed Thinking}

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Wednesday 24 August 2016

Wednesday 24 August 2016

}Ideal-Practical Integration{

Moon in Taurus-->Gemini   ***

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week begins at 4:38a PT | 7:38a ET | 11:38a UT   ** |

/moon goes void-of-course at 12:39p PT | 3:39p ET | 7:39p UT   * / |

until it enters Gemini at 4:41p PT | 7:41p ET | 11:41p UT   ** |

Money pressures seem to intensify. Shopping could be confusing. You could pursue dreams which are illusive even though they yield contentment for a while. Anything complicated involving what is owed to you or what you supposedly owe should be finessed and handled with patience rather than trying to get immediate resolutions. Paperwork, bookkeeping, Internet passwords or registrations and hassles could be peculiar. Communication in philosophic or religious areas could be important. 

We have to resist the temptation to say  "Nothing is working, why not just give up?" Time seems out of joint, but we are not. 

Who is deceptive, and what is deceptive? are questions plaguing many of us. Who is an escapist, and how is his or her escapism making others' lives more difficult? (Mars and Saturn both square Neptune)

By the time the moon enters Gemini, you could work yourself into nervousness--or, if you control your mind, you could arrive at brilliant understanding of difficult matters through intricate analysis. That could be a project in the evening. 

You want to be good to people, or guide or teach them, but could attempt it through a critical, harsh manner which does not respect their lack of learning or experience in areas which are natural to you. It is wise to guard against being judgmental or censorious, picking flaws in people--within yourself if not in speech. You may or may not see what is wrong with them, but they are what they are and you can't change that easily.  

A set goal is needed, while Saturn squares Neptune, or else ambition will go to sleep on you. You do feel sure of yourself, but could let others ignore you because you are so sure you are right you don't care about their opinion. 

You would like to integrate earth with heaven (Mars square Neptune) in a way which gets people to cooperate in your awesome vision of a better world and start implementing it. Well, let's do that. Go easy on their imperfections or misunderstandings, but try. 

{Wednesday} {Ideal-Practical Integration}

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Tuesday 23 August 2016

Wednesday 23 August 2016

\Courted by Fortune/

Moon in Taurus   ***

One thing I emphasize about the Dark Hermetic Epochs (this one from August 10 through October 5) is that we seem to be caught between the past and the future during these nearly-two-month periods. For example, you are pondering some aspects of your past, or things you learned in the past, and at the same time get some wild or exciting ideas about a way to use all that in the future and perhaps "get a bee in your bonnet" about a new project. Then comes Cosmic Piper with cold water to throw on your bonnet and drive the bee away. Is it really ready? Or is it premature? Truth to say, I don't know, but chances are that in a few weeks, or by October, you will look back and think "Well that was another idea that didn't work." 

However, that is not to say you should not try it out, tentatively, in your thinking and in discussion with others. Just don't get ahead of yourself or too excited about something that is really in preliminary stages.

This worked out exactly for me today. I read an article in TIME magazine by Joel Stein about "trolls" on the Internet and sites where they are prevalent, such as Reddit. He mentioned that a husband-and-wife team who worked with Reddit and got disgusted are forming a new site, Imzy, which is dedicated to "good" people and "good vibes" and will not tolerate "trolls" or ridiculous put-up-your-dukes negativity. I thought, "Maybe that's for me," since I could never see a way to make Reddit work for me. So I just went to their site, only to find that it is "in Beta" and so all I could do was leave my name and email and hope they may contact me when things are readied. (That is, un-Reddit-ied.)

Premature? Yes. But interesting as a possibility. You will find a lot of such things turning up in the rest of August and September. It's okay to play with them and see where they go; not okay to invest your life savings, or dozens of hours, in any of them. Usually the tried and true is best at these times, when it comes to real commitments of time, energy and loyalty.

Another way to look at it: Is the new thing you are getting involved in taking too much of your time? Does it go in circles, with endless complications, so it seems the details obscure the main purpose? Then maybe you are wasting your time, or should at least cut back a great deal and wait for things to clarify before committing further.

Tuesday looks better than Monday, although Monday turned out to be quite peaceable for me. I noted DHE-y sorts of things going on: Noise in the apartment next door while workmen prepare it for a new tenant. I have said before, many times over the years, that more people move during the Dark Hermetic Epochs. That is not a mistake, just a fact of nature; that is, it is not a mistake to move at those times. It happens over and over. I had to move into my current domain during such a time--it was beyond my control; I had to seize the opportunity. And that has happened many times in the past. 

My general rule is: If you can make your choice of a new place to live during a Bright Hermetic Epoch, that is best. Then if, after making the choice, you have to move during a DHE, don't worry about that. Often that is just the way it works. The clutch is out at those times so you can shift gears! It seems an inevitability. While living in New York, every time Mercury slowed down and then went retrograde (DHE) I heard people carrying furniture up and down the stairs in my apartment building. Fact of nature, or astro-nature. 

The other DHE-type thing I observed Monday was outside the coffee shop where I spent an hour sipping and reading. A young man on the corner with a clipboard was trying to stop people with "Can you spare a few minutes for Planned Parenthood?" He got almost no response. Everybody passed him by or gave a quick verbal excuse. It is fascinating that four planets are now in Virgo (called a Stellium), because it is the sign of "the Virgin" and is concerned with purity and has a lot to do with both abortion and anti-abortion sentiments. I almost felt sorry for this young man, although I am not a pro-abortion type, because he seemed stuck in a very DHE situation: "This just isn't working. Nothing is happening." And the people he was trying to engage were "into themselves" and their inner lives, which is a very DHE way of being. We want to tune out extraneous voices, often.

But our own minds are very active during this time, according to the chart positions. Study and thought are emphasized and could be fruitful for you. 

Tuesday could be a day of material luck and easy pleasure. (The puritan in me is aghast at that!) Friendship could click smoothly. Connecting with someone neglected for a while (or who has neglected you) could go very well.

Someone who seems "out of it" might still be good for you--he or she feels isolated from the public. You may feel like guarding this person from harm.

You might enjoy privileges in company with some conservative, well-off individuals: "Grand dames at tea." (Hmm, on Monday I bought two new teas to try out, and am drinking one right now!)

To spend or not to spend? You will probably do both, that is, will evaluate carefully how you spend. Ultimate rewards can come through pushing ahead with settled plans regardless of outside encouragement. 

You may uphold a cause, conviction, or group (religious, spiritual or otherwise) to which you feel fearless allegiance. 

You may want to go roving, looking for new experiences, and find them serendipitously. In contrast with that, something you keep doing out of a sense of duty is like a wheel you have to keep turning--it has a good effect on the world and you are wise to keep at it. The first sentence in this paragraph is maybe your dessert or reward for doing that loyally. 

{Tuesday} /Courted by Fortune\

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Monday 22 August 2016

Monday 22 August 2016

~Intellect Plus Deep Shared Feeling~

Moon in Aries-->Taurus   **

/moon goes void-of-course at 4:49a PT | 7:49a ET | 11:49a UT   * /

until it enters Taurus at 2:20p PT | 5:20p ET | 9:20p UT   **

Only two stars because I do not feel that this is a good or easy time. It is likely to be a hard one for many or most. If not for you, you must be favored by the gods or by your personal horoscope--or you have evolved to a point where general circumstances no longer afflict you. That is very rare indeed.

I am not in a mood to try to point out the many details, astrologically, on which I base that statement. It is based partly on my own immediate feelings and intuitions, but I can say sincerely that I hope I am wrong. 

Many will be thinking of "what might have been." If only I had succeeded at this, or done that right, I would be in a better position. The past gets its revenge on us.

Or, we can "eat the past," that is, get what we have learned from it into us and digest it as strength for the future. 

A good time could be about the time Luna enters Taurus (see above). A few hours before and after that could be positive for Luna will be trine Sol, Taurus to Virgo, the sun having entered the latter sign early today. These are earth signs so even if you don't feel thrilled with your financial situation you may see a way to improve it around this time. If not, then solid persistence with plans you have already vetted is your best approach.

Neither Jupiter nor Venus is comfortable in Virgo, but Mercury is, so we may feel as if intellect is swallowing up emotion. I have been studying a lot, for example. But also I have had deep meaningful dreams about long-lost friends, which have been wonderful. This has to do with the moon being the Planet of Oriental Appearance now (and for the coming week). That gives us a desire and ability to nourish, guide, and coach one another, and if that doesn't happen directly outwardly it happens in our inner consciousness, perhaps telepathically or in dreams or daydreams.

Also for the coming week, and longer, Neptune is the handle in a Fanhandle configuration. Since he is in Pisces, his own sign (I feel like saying "she" because much of Neptune's influence seems deeply spiritually feminine), we are really tuned in to something "spiritual" for lack of a better word--something uplifting which makes us feel that beyond change, beyond loss, beyond absence of friends and lovers, there is something lasting and reassuring in our lives, a connection with all who have been good to us or to whom we have been good.

{Monday}  ~Intellect Plus Deep Shared Feeling~

Cosmic Piper

Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 August 2016

Saturday 20 August 2016

^Reluctant or Covert Concord^

Moon in Pisces-->Aries   ** |

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week ends at 1:57a PT | 4:57a ET | 8:57a UT   ***

/moon goes void-of-course at 5:22a PT | 8:22a ET | 12:22p UT   ** /

until it enters Aries at 12:20p PT | 3:20p ET | 7:20p UT   ***

I want to be writing for a longer time-period, because as of Friday I feel that we are so definitely in the Dark Hermetic Epoch (until October 6) that it merits deep consideration.

I was walking down the street, trying to get a little extra leisure time on Friday, and found that people seemed to be walking sideways. This is what happens during any DHE including the Mercury Retrograde period at its center but not confined to that. People will stop in front of you. They will turn in front of you, heedless of your presence. Their minds are elsewhere. They will look like zombies, frequently, looking off in odd directions, their minds dwelling on someone who isn't there or some incident in the past or some worry about tomorrow. In the grocery store countless people seemed to be walking slowly in front of me and I couldn't get around them. 

I am truly surprised there are not more accidents than there are during these periods. At one point on the street a woman lunged in front of me to drop refuse in a container and I swerved out of her way, tripping on a spike in the sidewalk and almost falling with my cellphone in my hand. 

I found few smiling faces today. Those working seemed the happiest. Work provides a context in which to function, parameters within which to move. Those who were merely wanting to enjoy themselves seemed unable to figure out what would please them and did not look happy. This is so very characteristic of the DHE. You may doubt me, but if you observe for yourself you will see. 

Then, the expected sort of unexpected stuff--expected because if you have been reading these reports you know that in the DHE we have to expect the unexpected. For me on Friday it was, among other things, planning on a meeting in the evening and then finding that, unbeknownst to me, it had been canceled, or perhaps scheduled for a different week. I had the strange feeling that I had slipped into a different world.

Not everything goes crazy, fortunately. But the one person I encountered with whom I had an extended conversation told me at length of two individuals he is concerned about, both of them seriously "out of order" in some sense and causing problems for those around them, including my friend who felt at his wits' end as to how to deal with all this. I felt for him but didn't know how to help. I could have said "It's the DHE," but would that have helped? To sum it up, during the DHE "the natives are restless." Pardon the colonial implications, but it's an apt phrase. Perhaps only the colorless, the stodgy, the conventional and boring can get through a DHE without noticing any unusual problems. But they are sure to have relatives or neighbors or friends who are not colorless, stodgy, conventional and boring, so they will have to deal with them somehow or other while they go through their changes.  

Saturday could have an emphasis on education. Someone needs to be mothered, maybe yourself. Those in other realms, the "dear departed," some of them perhaps hundreds of years gone, others hundreds of days, could be parenting us in some way of which we are unconscious.

There can be sincere friends and partners, though somehow they are subtle, intellectual, spiritual friends or partners rather than exciting and romantic on a cruder outer plane. 

Robust and somewhat harsh people, rustic or uncultivated, yet have good hearts, are sincere and worthy of respect. 

"Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits" is the advice of Charubel. In other words, don't be misled by false lights leading not to a UFO but a brush fire. Or charlatans promising much but delivering little. 

A beautiful woman, relaxed and smiling, in elegant clothing, is an entree into a higher sphere. She has secret wisdom which may or may not be articulated in speech.

We may become aware of the diabolical in people at times like this (the Dark Hermetic Epoch). Yes, they can't help it; yes, it is good to be kind and loving; but it is also wise to be wary when they could upset your life-plan and your noble destiny.

"Two women walking together with linked arms and talking confidentially" suggests being open to someone with whom you have a common interest rather than being totally reclusive. There is much suspicion, with Saturn and Mars square Neptune, but we are in this together, somehow, and have to find some basis of concord and unity somewhere, somehow.

{Saturday} ^Reluctant or Covert Concord^

Cosmic Piper

Sunday 21 August 2016

^Trying Again Peaceably^

Moon in Aries   ***

The way people treat their dogs is a good index to their character. The notion that dogs can be whiny and indigent is a slander of their character. They are loyal and almost selfless in many situations.

This could be a clue as to how to handle something in a human relationship.

People are concerned about money. This might be selfishness or covetousness but has its place perhaps, since only those with a sufficiency can be easily generous. 

As Mercury slows down, we might be led toward misleading spirits, or supposed insights which turn out to be misapprehensions. 

It is possible to find peace and concord. This requires patience and trust in the slow processes of time and long-term destiny. Potentials of subtle rather than flashy love are shown by Venus's quintile with Uranus and nonagen with Mars. 

What could get in the way is something diabolical which hurts you in one way or another, probably by misleading you. We need to be on guard.

Awkwardness and backwardness could blunt or nullify our good intentions. So it is well to keep on learning when one fails, because the next attempt may be the successful one--or if not, then "try again." 

There is education, and there is self-education. Both are valuable. Then one finds that one educates others, not pretentiously but just by being oneself when one has a certain knowledge, skill or aptitude.

No one has to whine about his or her inferiority. Each has some ability none other has. It does not have to be displayed ostentatiously, just quietly lived. 

{Sunday} ^Trying Again Peaceably^

Cosmic Piper